Dabura

You are a disgusting pig. Take my Like and get out of my sight.

Also: more Carley Johnston.

Admittedly, Yzerman probably does look a *wee bit* foolish, as he could've just added an additional piece or two in free agency in the summer and maybe then we don't have to trade assets to acquire Erne and Perlini, who could be total busts. But, I mean, it is what it is. This team can't score goals. It's painful to watch, so I can only imagine how rough it is on the players. Perlini appears to be capable of scoring 12-15+ goals. Age-wise, he fits with the two-more-years-of-pain-and-then-we-compete rebuild plan. So let's see what he can do. Cuz why not. Like, I know we all like having Mantha rip shots from the top of the right circle on the power play. But I think the team also kinda misses having Mantha playing the net-front role. So, what if instead of Abdelkader/Glendening/Erne, we put Perlini in front of the net? Or we put Mantha back in front of the net and have Perlini rip shots from the top of the right circle? Point is, Perlini gives us some more options, some more depth, some more flexibility. If all he's good for is 10 goals, well, that's probably still better than Hirose (in terms of goal scoring). If he finishes the season with 15+? Awesome. Ink him to a cheap contract extension and maybe package Svechnikov with Athanasiou at the trade deadline. We're getting younger and bigger and, hopefully, hungrier, and, hopefully, better. It's a slow process, but it's happening. I agree with @The 91 of Ryans -- we're probably going to get a couple more of these trades before the season is over. Personally, I'm down with that. I get not being down with it, though.

We're not looking for a savior. We're looking for help. It's painfully clear that this team is fatally deficient, even by tank standards; the situation is below the "OK, we're bad, but at least it's a 'good' kind of bad" water line. It's a very bad place to be. Perlini isn't going to magically transform this team into a contender, but it's some help for a team that needs some help. You can't ask the top line and Helm to score all of our goals this season. "But we already have Erne." Erne is a grinder. Perlini is more of a scorer. Yzerman is trying to plug some immediate holes with low-risk, high-reward young talent. Erne gives us some size and truculence. Perlini gives us some size and scoring ability. I don't see the problem.

Like I've said, Perlini has scored some goals at the NHL level. He has a 14-goal season under his belt. He has a 17-goal season under his belt. With that in mind, here's how some of the highly touted scorers in our system are faring this season: AA - 0 goals thru NHL 10 games Hirose - 0 goals thru 12 NHL games Svechnikov - 0 goals thru 4 NHL games (1 goal thru 3 AHL games) Rasmussen - 2 goals thru 6 AHL games Zadina - 1 goal thru 8 AHL games Veleno - 1 goal thru 8 AHL games Berggren - 0 goals thru 13 SHL games

Team needs forwards who can score goals more than it needs a good-not-great D prospect who may or may not be playing on the third pairing in three years. That's the logic. Whether that's good logic or not is up for debate. But it is what it is. IMO, rolling Bertuzzi-Larkin-Mantha all season long and letting the rest of the forward group atrophy doesn't help the rebuild. It kills confidence, kills morale, kills belief. Hirose hasn't scored a goal and it's pretty clear he isn't going to be a goal scorer. AA hasn't scored a goal and he's a team-worst -12. Our power play has been garbage. Yzerman's throwing the team a bone. He's giving his troops some help.

Hope he/she feels better real soon!

Pretty much all of this. I don't see this as a galaxy brain move or 4D chess or anything. I think Yzerman saw an opportunity to address some immedate, pressing needs for cheap and so he did it. If Hronek isn't putting up points, Yzerman probably doesn't make this trade. If we're getting good production from our secondary forward scorers, Yzerman probably doesn't make this trade. If we're not getting pushed around physically and we're not struggling to spend quality time in the o-zone, Yzerman probably doesn't make this trade. If this team isn't in desperate need of any kind of pick-me-up it can get, Yzerman probably doesn't make this trade. Perlini can help us right now. Regula's two years away from getting a nine-game cup of coffee with the big club.

That's what she said.

Yup, that's a fair point. It's quite possible Larkin isn't quite the same player if he's a full-time winger or a middle-six center. Certainly he wouldn't be the same person, although that's kind of a given with alternate timeline hypotheticals. Portrait of a Red Wings Fan (2019)

An Italian born in England. We are reaching levels of degeneracy that shouldn't be possible.

Same. I was and still am really bummed we couldn't grab him. Fortunately, Yzerman likes trades!

The name's Eklund. Dabura Eklund.

He should fit right in with Mantha and Athanasiou.

Perlini's the better scorer. https://www.nhl.com/player/brendan-perlini-8477943 https://www.nhl.com/player/adam-erne-8477454 But we'll see.

And neither 23-year-old Datsyuk nor 23-year-old Zetterberg was ever asked to carry a talent-starved team on his back. They were surrounded by tons of talent all throughout their 20s. Put Larkin on a mid-2000s Wings team and he probably murders fools.

Neat little tidbit here: https://www.nhl.com/redwings/news/detroit-acquires-brendan-perlini-from-chicago/c-310602314

He's fighting for his next contract too. https://www.capfriendly.com/players/brendan-perlini Hopefully this ends The Helm Experiment. Try Perlini with Larkin and Mantha/Bertuzzi. Try him with Filppula and AA/Hirose. See what he can do.

Worth noting that Perlini has scored goals at the NHL level. 14 in 57 games in 2016-17 with the Coyotes. 17 in 74 games in 2017-18 with the Coyotes. 14 in 68 games last season, split between the Coyotes and Blackhawks. I don't think it's a stretch to say he's capable of potting 20+ goals under the right circumstances. So...nice D prospect for some immediate scoring help? Sure. I'll take it.

Agreed. At least, in theory. Hronek's currently on a ~40-point pace, just as he was at the end of last season. So he's looking like the real deal, which means that's one RHD spot locked down. Probably safe to pencil Seider in as another. Tuomisto is the best defenseman in his league and Yzerman took him high in the draft, so maybe he's another. Lindstrom's still in the mix. And that's just righties. So...yeah. I'm not going to lose sleep over losing Regula. Is Perlini fair value? I dunno. Given the fact that we desperately need some scoring depth *right now* (if only to help morale) and that we don't really have the assets needed to swing a trade for a big-name NHL scorer...Perlini's probably the best we could realistically hope for. He had requested a trade, so I doubt a whole lot of thought went into this. We're taking a flyer on a young forward with some skill and some size.

Athanasiou to NSH for Philip Tomasino + NJD's 2020 2nd (owned by NSH)

Probably also worth noting that we made Binnington look pretty mortal tonight.

I go back and forth on this. On the one hand, yeah. Gimme Markstrom. On the other hand, our D group is literally the worst in the league and Carey Price would probably look pedestrian behind it. There's definitely a psychological element that has to be considered tho; a young rebuilding team really, really needs a goalie they believe in. Nothing kills team confidence quicker and more thoroughly than backbreaking letdown goaltending. I dunno that I believe that's what we have in Howard and Bernier, but I guess I would've liked to have seen [goalie] play well enough to steal this evening's game and the Sabres game and maybe the Oilers game. ...But, again, that's probably a lot to ask of even a legit Vezina-caliber goalie. Our back end is unbelievably thin.